


A Very Verity Valentine

by fractionallyfoxtrot



Series: Hearts Over Fitton [1]
Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: Alternate Universe, Familial Fluff, In which Martin and Douglas have a son, Kid Fic, M/M, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-16
Updated: 2014-02-16
Packaged: 2018-01-12 16:13:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1191513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fractionallyfoxtrot/pseuds/fractionallyfoxtrot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Verity plans to surprise her dads with a homemade, hand drawn Valentine's Day card.  She includes her little brother Charlie in the project, giving him his very own card to decorate.  Unfortunately, Charlie thinks that a gift for their dads should be something they make together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Very Verity Valentine

"Bear!"

Verity was quick, pulling her homemade card out of her little brother's reach before he could get a paste-and-glitter covered hand on it. Charlie put both hands on the coffee table and pushed himself up, getting glitter and paste all down the front of his shirt, and stretched out his arm again.

"Bear," he said, referring to his sister. "Wanna help."

"No," Verity said, kindly but firmly. She slid down the table a bit, protecting her card more than herself from the sticky grips of her brother. "This is _my_ card," she tried to explain to the grumpy-faced toddler. "That's your card. Color _your_ card."

Charlie didn't seem to grasp the concept of separate projects. He slid off the table, knocking his card and an assortment of markers, glitter, and stamps onto the floor, and started to make his way to his sister. Verity, utilizing skills she'd been honing since the day Charlie was born, stood up, taking her card with her and holding it high above Charlie's head.

"Wanna help," Charlie said again, grabbing at Verity's skirt.

"No," she refused, trying to pry his fingers off.

Charlie wrapped an arm around her leg. "Wanna help!"

"Charlie, no!" Verity said loudly, untangling him from her leg.

He latched on to her and she lifted him by his struggling arms. She put him down on a nearby dining room chair, knowing he didn't know how to climb down on his own, and tried to resume her work, noticing too late the telltale quiver of his lip.

Charlie erupted, screaming bloody murder, throwing her name in occasionally for good measure, and it wasn't long before Verity heard the sound of their dads rushing down the stairs.

* * *

By the time Douglas and Martin reached the living room, the crying had stopped and Charlie looked positively pleased as punch. It was hard to imagine that his painful cry was what had torn them away from a brief private moment only seconds earlier.

Verity, on the other hand, looked anything but pleased.

Charlie sat in her lap with a red marker clenched in his hand, scribbling happily over a folded piece of pink paper. The two sat next to the coffee table in a flurry of glitter, markers, and hearts, much of which was stuck to their clothing. Verity watched unhappily as Charlie colored, frowning at every movement of his hand.

Douglas watched Martin approach them, his eyes widening at the mess scattered about the table and floor. Having been a parent longer than Martin had, Douglas cared less about things that would wash clean and, instead, looked closely at their daughter as she stared wistfully at the paper in Charlie's hands.

Charlie spotted them and threw the marker aside, holding the paper up to Martin.

"Papa! Papa! See!" he cheered as Martin lifted him tentatively, holding him at arm's length before resigning to the inevitability of glitter rubbing off on him from their son. "Balemtime!" Charlie declared as he and Martin held the paper together.

"Valentine?" Martin asked. Charlie nodded, tapping the carefully drawn heart and aeroplane which he'd covered in red scribbles. "Is this a Valentine for me?"

"Papa," Charlie assured him, closing the card to show him the words 'To Daddy and Martin' on the front. "Papa an Daddy."

Martin smiled, kissing Charlie's hair. "Thank you, Charlie. It's wonderful. Douglas, they made us a Valentine," he explained.

Douglas nodded absently, still watching Verity. "That's nice," he said, just to prove he was listening. He walked up to Verity and knelt in front of her, gently touching a hand to one of her feet; she seemed unusually focused on them. "Ver?" he asked quietly. "Darling?"

"He _helped_ ," she answered, not looking up, her second word heavy with sarcasm.

Douglas knew well Charlie's sometimes troublesome love for his sister. He took a quick assessment of the room and had a good idea of what had played out. He glanced up at Martin and Charlie, the former worried as he looked at the card again, the latter smiling in blissful ignorance.

Douglas tried to give Verity the credit she was due. "Was the Valentine your idea?"

"I gave him his own!" she complained, unable to hold in her frustration. She whipped another paper, white and clearly decorated by Charlie's hand, from the table. "I gave him all the best markers and I didn't say anything when he pressed too hard but he still wanted mine!"

Douglas felt for her as she looked up at him, her frustration creasing her brow. Both he and Martin were the youngest of their families and he could only imagine how difficult it was to be selfless, and be nice about it, at her age.

"I worked _really_ hard on it, Daddy," she told him, shooting a quick glance at Martin to make sure he heard too. "I told him to do his own but he screamed and cried till I gave him mine."

Douglas held out his arms to her and she came willingly, throwing her arms around his neck as he carried her to the sofa. He took a seat, Martin and Charlie sitting beside him as Verity made a pointed effort not to look at her brother.

"You did a lovely job, Darling," Douglas praised, brushing Verity's fringe out of her face. "Thank you so much."

"But-" she protested.

"And this is such a great drawing of GERTI," Martin added, handing Douglas the card, putting it purposefully out of Charlie's reach.

Verity frowned down at her defaced work. "But he-"

"I know," Douglas said, cutting her off before she could rile herself up any more, "but it's because he loves you."

Verity looked up at him, clearly unamused, wearing an expression Douglas recognized from his own face. She'd heard this argument many times before.

"Thank you for letting him help you," Douglas said, giving her credit for something he doubted he could've done at her age. "Even if you didn't want to," he added, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

Verity looked as if she were ready to complain again when Charlie scampered out of Martin's lap and barreled onto Douglas'. He grabbed the white card from Verity's hands and crumpled it in an attempt at folding it. He moved close to his sister, pressing the paper back into her hands with a big smile.

"Balemtime," he said, pointing to the largest mass of red scribbles. "Bear. Bear," he repeated, pushing the card at Verity.

Douglas watched carefully as Verity regarded Charlie's smiling face for a moment. She sighed, rolling her eyes and making a big show of being put out as she opened her arms to let Charlie crawl into her lap. Douglas tried to hold back his smile, seeing Martin out of the corner of his eye failing to do so, as Charlie grabbed Verity in a clumsy hug and kiss, their daughter's frustration fading in the face of her sticky, glitter-covered brother.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Charlie."


End file.
